JT

Like many other reviewers here, I realize that arguing the merits of this seminal James Taylor Record over his others is pointless--the Jury's been back for decades...Guilty as Classic! I will say this is THE SACD that made my wife (who is WAY more of a James Taylor fan than I but in no way an audiophile) literally cry with joy...She told me she's listened to this record over a hundred times in her life and she never heard the percussion, the bass strings sliding down the frets, the reverbs, the BREATHING, so clearly as in this SACD. You will literally hear things you never knew were there, and they all enhance the experience.As the gear guy, I concur that this is a wonderful redu for SACD. It is not hyped or punched up. In fact on first listen I almost thought it was a bit subdued through my Paradigms. But the sound so perfectly fits the record and the mood I realized that's more a product of 1976 than any error in the transfer. Eveything is tight, focused, transient and highly dynamic. Everything modern hit records are not...I whole-heartly agree with another reviewer who said SACD's like this are perfect for showing off the format and your system, as everyone you know is at least familiar with James Taylor, and no one has ever heard him like this before. I guess that's the point--I have unbelivably pristine recordings of soundwaves, test tones, snare samples, etc. in my music library, but none of those made my wife tell me to go spend $$$ on dozens more classic records of our youth in this format. At the end of the day it's WHAT YOU ARE LISTENING TO, even more than how you are hearing it. Even more than DVD over VHS, this vast sonic improvement, when bestowed on such touchstones as the music we grew up on, is a powerful and wonderful thing. This SACD should be a staple of every collection, if only as a simple answer to why audiophiles care like we do. Highest Recommendation.

I have been collecting SACD's as I find them and on a whim purchased the JT SACD without really looking into the song content. I couldn't be more pleased. This is James Taylor at his best with great folksy tunes and of course the bluesy "Traffic Jam" and one full blown old timey country song "Bartender Blues" (which turned out to be my favorite on the album even though I typically don't care much for country music).The packaging for this although cardboard has an internal foam sleeve to protect the surface of the SACD from scratches. The package was also stamped with a serial number, nice touch.The audio quality of this album is outstanding. The music is well mastered using the full headroom available from rich bass to cymal cylibence. If you are into SACD and enjoy James Taylor, I highly recommend this for your collection.I also have James Taylor Hourglass on SACD (5.1Channel, Stereo - non hybrid) and often use this as a demonstration disk to show off my system.

This collection from James Taylor includes quite a few overlooked gems. I had this album on vinyl and was glad to find it here after so many years.

I am a JT Fan - enuff said. I am trying to collect them all - some are better than others - like life some years better than others....

James Taylor won a Grammy for "Best Male Pop Vocal Performance" in 1978 for his cover of "Handy Man" ( written by singer Jimmy Jones and songwriter Otis Blackwell ). He's is backed by his core band at this time of Danny Kortchmar on guitar, Leland Sklar on Bass, and Russell Kunkel on Drums. Taylor shows a verity of musical styles. There are songs with beautiful melodies like "Secret O' Life" and "If I Keep My Heart Out of Sight" and upbeat Rock with "Honey Don't Leave L.A." (By guitarist Danny Kortchmar). He also wrote a tribute song in honor of country legend George Jones (invoking Jones vocal style). Jones later recorded his own version of this with James Taylor singing backs on the track. There is also "Terra Nova" written and preformed by Carly Simon, and JamesTaylor. Just an incredible album of songs!

This will always be my favorite album by him. He seemed to truly find his voice here. In fact the combination of voice, guitar skills, writing skills and the Peter Asher production created a perfect high point in his career. Maybe a bit more 'pop' than some of his other albums, the music is very accessible and in many cases, supremely peaceful like taking a warm bath. Heroin without the nasty side effects.That's right, I like it!

I completely mirror Skytag's review. Great sound quality with an excellent mix by Nathaniel Kunkel (a talented family, to be sure!). I personally prefer predominantly ambience oriented mixes like this as opposed to a lot of discrete instrument presentation in the surround channels. I want to be listening to the band, not be IN the band. But, to each there own. Also, the often unfortunate use of the Aphex Aurel Exciter during the recording of this album does not seem to have degraded the natural quality of James' voice. This is not a hybrid SACD. A solid 5+.

It would be nice to have a remastered version of this album but it is still great JT!

RITORNATA NEL TEMO ...OTTIMO IL SUONO

Replacing vinyl collection. Has made life easier

アメリカの（いわゆる）シンガーソングライター、ジェームス・テイラー（JT）の、1977年発表作です。ジャケットに、ドンとお顔が載っていますが、まさにそのイメージどおりの作品です。アメリカンなイケてるお兄さんが、丁寧にまじめに作りました、という感じ。まず、JTの歌声がいいですね。優しく厚みがあり、かつしっかり聞き手に届いてきます。歌はギター主体とした佳曲が並び、最後まで心地よく聞きとおせます。主なプレーヤーは、ダニー・コーチマー（Gt.）、リーランド・スクラー（Ba.）、ラス・カンケル（Dr.）など。この皆さんも最高です。心得たプレイというか、本当にセンス良く、歌を盛り上げていると思います。なお、個人的には 1.きみの笑顔（Your Smiling Face）がお気に入りです。とても良質なポップスで、心地よいです。

Loved this ever since it came out. Bought it on tape originally but as my last tape machine is on it's last legs I though I had better replace it with the CD. Some lovely tracks on it ( if I keep my heart out of sight, Secret of life) and some quirky ones ( Traffic Jam). An album I could not live without.

Los seguidores de James Taylor tienen este álbum entre sus fetiches. Gran edición,pero a un precio de oro. Señores, hagan un esfuerzo por ajustar los precios, por favor.